The Florida Bright Futures college scholarship program may not be so readily available to university-bound seniors in future years. The Florida Board of Governors met recently to reconsider the financial distribution of the financial aid program.Since its inception in 1997, Bright Futures has been a big hit among Florida families. Depending on GPA, SAT or ACT scores, and number of community service hours, students can receive a 75 percent or 100 percent scholarship to their desired Florida university, be it a 4-year or 2-year college or vocational school.
Bright Futures has been funded every year by the Florida Lottery. Since 1997, tuition grants have jumped from $70 million to $400 million. As legislators several proposal to make the Bright Futures Scholarship program more of a need-based scholarship, rather than boon for wealthy and middle class Floridians who were college bound already, former FAMU SGA President Larry O. Rivers, a Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt, has another view.
Rivers writes, "keeping tuition-setting authority in the hands of Florida legislators is the best way to protect public higher education access for students from low-income families, especially the ones who attend Florida A&M University. This, combined with sales-tax reform, would ensure that Florida maintains college affordability while it expands academic funding.
States in which tuition is determined by appointed, rather than elected, officials tend to have the highest prices. Florida's Bright Futures program, which enjoys strong legislative support, serves as an invaluable buffer against sharp tuition hikes that would close the State University System's doors to needy students.
Though FAMU students receive only 1.2 percent of Bright Futures scholarships, they have the most to lose if the program is disbanded. The average annual income for FAMU students' families is $40,000; about 78 percent of the student body receives need-based financial aid. With the costs of college and living climbing far above Pell Grant, federal loan and work-study amounts, these students respond to tuition increases by purchasing fewer credit hours. Many are forced to attend school part-time and/or take off entire semesters to earn money for more courses."
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The state of Florida really needs to get it together. The economy has relied on tourism dollars for entirely too long. The State should, at the very least, institute a state tax.
ReplyDeleteThe sales tax simply isn't sufficient. Florida just collected $1B less in tax revenue this year. The state can't afford to let all services remain tax-free. Service-oriented companies rely on the protections of the state government like everyone else and need to ante up some dollars for the cost, as well.
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